Pakistan on Talks With India: “When Indian PM Says Their Nuclear Assets are Not for Diwali, Then What Can we Do?”

On Thursday, Pakistan declared that there were no ongoing backchannel discussions between Islamabad and New Delhi. The Senate, the upper house of parliament, was informed by Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Hina Rabbani Khar that “at this time, there is no such thing under way.” Backchannel diplomacy is preferable when it is goal-oriented, she continued.

Foreign Office Spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch also reiterated Khar’s comments about no covert diplomatic relations with India at the weekly media briefing. According to Baloch, there is no backchannel diplomacy between Pakistan and India.

In his remarks to the Senate, Khar stated that although Pakistan had always taken steps to advance regional peace, “right now, the cross-border hostility [from India] is of a unique type.”

The world should pay attention to the signals New Delhi sent to Islamabad, she said, as Pakistan was occasionally urged to normalize its relations with India at international fora.

“All of the messages we are receiving are explosive. Pakistan has the greatest stake in realising this region’s potential, but what can be done when the leader of the opposing government declares that nuclear weapons are not for Diwali?” To the senators, Khar spoke.

Her comments came days after the Indian media reported that New Delhi had extended invitations to Pakistan’s Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial and Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari to attend the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) foreign ministers and chief justices meetings in Goa in May.